Air Pollution in Pristina, Influence on Cardiovascular Hospital Morbidity

Introduction: Numerous studies observed health effects of particulate air pollution. Ambient air quality is particularly bad in Pristina. The principal sources of contaminants are sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 (NOx), ozone (O3), lead (Pb), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM or dust). Objective: to investigate effects of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in UCCK- Pristina. Methods: Retrospective ecological study. During the three year analytical research predict the potential benefit of decreasing for concentration of PM 2.5,PM 10 were measured in two station in Pristina. The study population consisted of all hospitalization patient in intern clinic for 2010,2011 and 2012 year. Air pollution measurements will be used by KHMI data for the year of 2010, 2011 and 2012 for the municipality of Pristina in the measurements point in: KHMI-MESP which is equipped with automatic analyzer- Air Compact Monitoring System (Version 2.2) recordum MESSTECHNIK GmbH. Statistical data processing will be done with SPSS 17.0 statistical package. Results: Based on the results obtained during the study period concentrated PM are higher level than standards value. The results showed that the number of hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease are positively correlated with concentration pollutants. Results show clear seasonal variation in the effects of PM on hospital admissions in Kosovo. The study period was short but the mean daily admissions for cardiovascular illnesses were quite large. Conclusion: The main source for air pollution was coal-burned power plant and traffic (old vehicles) in Kosovo.